Tag Archives: NBA

CLEVELAND — Boston star forward Gordon Hayward suffered a gruesome injury, dislocating his left ankle and fracturing his left tibia just five minutes into his debut with the Celtics.

Hayward, who signed a four-year, $128 million free agent contract this summer, went up for an alley-oop pass and collided with LeBron James midway through the first quarter. He got his leg twisted underneath him as he came back to the floor. Hayward collapsed under the basket and looked in horror as his left foot was pointing outward.

He put his hands to his face and dropped back to the floor as a hush fell over the sellout crowd inside Quicken Loans Arena.

According to The Vertical’s Chris Mannix, the Celtics are cautiously optimistic about Hayward’s injury:

With minutes to play and his team still trying to claw its way back, Hayward was loaded back onto a stretcher and carted out a side door. He will return to Boston for further tests, but team officials are cautiously optimistic. It appeared to be a clean break, sources told Yahoo Sports, and while more tests will be needed to determine the extent of the damage, Hayward may have avoided something catastrophic.

After the injury, Hayward’s new teammates huddled in prayer at their bench as a distressed James covered his mouth and several Cleveland players nearby looked away. Hayward had his leg placed in an air cast, and James came over and consoled him before the 27-year-old was pushed from the floor on a stretcher.

Cleveland’s crowd gave Hayward a roaring ovation as he left.

“You hurt for him,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said of Hayward, his former star at Butler. “It’s a tough, tough deal, but I guess that’s part of the risk of injury. I really feel for him.”

The team later confirmed that Hawyard’s ankle was broken and that he’d fly back to Boston Tuesday night. It’s a devastating blow for the Celtics, who had hoped to close the gap on the Cavs in the Eastern Conference.

Now, they could be without Hayward for an extended period.

Hayward spent the past six seasons with the Utah Jazz before signing with Boston.

The injury overshadowed Kyrie Irving’s return to Cleveland after the All-Star point guard was traded to Boston this summer.

LeBron James said seeing Hayward get hurt reminded him of grisly injuries to Paul George, Shaun Livingston and Louisville’s Kevin Ware.

“My thoughts and prayers go out to Gordon’s family. Hope for a speedy recovery, a healthy recovery,” James said. “Those are the injuries that you never see coming, you never want to happen, no matter who it is, no matter what the stature, no matter how much competitive nature that you have. It’s just very unfortunate.”

In the past, many have criticized Michael Jordan for staying silent during trying times that affect people who mostly purchase his products. However, Michael Jordan is putting his money where the critic’s mouths are, as he reportedly donated seven million dollars to clinics in at-risk communities located in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Jordan and his brand are set to work with Novant Health, who announced Jordan’s donation earlier Monday. Jordan spokesperson Estee Portnoy said that their company and Novant began working together a few years ago, as Jordan was in search of ways he could help poor and disadvantaged communities in Charlotte. Portnoy noted that Jordan “really wanted to do something personally, he and his family, in the North Carolina area, separate from the work we’ve done with the Hornets.”

According to the Charlotte Observer, over the next five years, an estimated 35,000 adults and children who don’t have access to health care or who use the emergency room for non-urgent needs will be serviced by the clinics. While speaking to a crowd who came to support the union between Jordan and Novant, expressed pride in teaming up with Novant so the two can “bring critical health services to under-served areas of Charlotte and the thousands of North Carolinians with limited access to health care.”

Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner, loaned the Mavs’ team plane to J.J. Barea, the team’s guard. Why? Well, so that Barea could go to Puerto Rico to bring supplies after Hurricane Maria did some damage.

Barea headed to Puerto Rico, his native country and will be returning on Tuesday with his mother and grandmother. Barea started a YouCaring crowdfunding campaign and has raised $140,000 from 850 donors.

After the hurricane, Barea was able to reach his family on Sunday and confirmed that they were safe to Dallas Morning News:

“They’re OK,” he said. “But it’s still rough there.”

As amazing of an effort that Barea is making and how gracious Cuban has been, Puerto Rico still needs a lot more help. Maybe these efforts will inspire others (aka Donald Trump) to help!

According to Nicole Friedman of the Wall Street Journal, the hurricane caused “estimated $40 billion to $85 billion in insured losses,” most of which occurred in Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico is currently without gas, food or power. They definitely can use all the help they can get.

The LA Lakers have been fined by the NBA for violating the league’s anti-tampering rules when they were pursuing Paul George. The fine amounted to $500,000.

Before George was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Lakers GM Rob Pelinka reportedly had inappropriate contact with George’s agent. The league had warned Magic Johnson about comments he made when appearing on Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel.

Per reports, less than 24 hours after becoming the 2017 NBA Finals champions, the Warriors have decided to decline the White House visit.

With President Trump in office, there have been many conversations about if athletes should take political stands by choosing to refuse traditional championship White House visits. Many of the Patriot players skipped out on their visit with Trump after winning the Super Bowl.

While no one from the Warriors organization or the White House has released a statement about the report, reporter Shaun King and CNBC analyst Josh Brown have both shared the information.

It should be noted that the Warriors did attend the White House ceremony when Obama held office in 2015 after their Finals win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

When Chance the Rapper made a call-to-arms to every major company in Chicago and across the United States, someone finally answered the call of duty. In a press conference this Friday, March 31 at Paul Robeson high school, he revealed that the Chicago Bulls has matched his $1 Million dollar donation to Chicago Public Schools. In the same breath, he has also announced his New Chance Arts and Literature Fund which will partner with Ingenuity Inc. in an effort to seek out and provide financial resources to CPS schools “in desperate need of an arts program,” Chance said.

In his attempt to help support the budget strapped Chicago Public Schools after a failed meeting with Gov. Bruce Rauner, Chance has made a strong effort to support CPS by raising the money on his own. The Grammy award winner’s Social Works non profit has raised $2.2 Million since he started with his $1 Million donation. Also, he has announced his plans to give $10,000 each to 12 additional CPS schools across various parts of the city including the South and West sides, as part of his to match $10,000 for every $100,000 donated to CPS outside of Social Works.

In a previous press conference, he warned of the dangers of the negative effects that would happen if CPS did not have its adequate funding.

“Our kids should not be held hostage because of political position,” he declares.“If the governor does not act, CPS will be forced to end school 13 days early, which means over 380,000 kids will not have adult supervised activities in June and could be placed in harm’s way. While I’m frustrated and disappointed in the Governor’s inaction, that will not stop me from doing all i can to help Chicago’s most valuable resource, Chicago’s kids.”

He added, “This check that I donated is a call to action,” he said. “I’m challenging major companies in Chicago across the U.S. to donate and take action.”

From there the Chicago Bulls organization was one of the first to match Chance’s original donation with $1 Million.

The schools include a variety of predominatly Black and Latino public schools across the city such as